Description

The production, taped in three weeks at the Manchester TV Centre, is set in ninth-century Britain. The set required twenty-four huge stones of polystyrene in imitation of the mysterious druidic ruin at Stonehenge in Salisbury Plain, an oak tree, hundreds of clumps of heather, and twelve butterflies, among other things. Olivier had played the title role in King Lear (with Alec Guinness as the Fool) at London's Old Vic in 1946. The U.S. premiere of this television production took place on May 4, 1983 at the New York City Museum of Broadcasting as a part of the celebration marking the "Britain Salutes New York" Festival